Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

In the preseason, the New York Jets were a running joke.  They didn’t score their first touchdown until the final game of the preseason.  The New York media even labeled them “clowns”.  But then they went out and scored 48 points in their season opener against the Buffalo Bills.

So which Jets team will we see ride into Heinz Field to face the Steelers this weekend?

The Jets obviously don’t have a particularly high-powered offense (despite what they did last weekend).  They had so little confidence in their quarterback, Mark Sanchez, that they brought in Tim Tebow to provide competition for him at the position.

But to be fair to Sanchez, the Jets haven’t quite surrounded him with a roster full of offensive weapons.  Do the names Shonn Greene, Stephen Hill or Jeff Cumberland strike fear into anyone?  Aside from former Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes, those three are the Jets’ other primary offensive weapons.  And even Santonio Holmes hasn’t lit the world on fire since he’s been with the Jets.  Holmes only had 654 receiving yards last year, which ranked 62nd among NFL recievers.  He hasn’t even matched the production that Jericho Cotchery gave the Jets when he was playing for them.

That should be a welcome relief to a Steelers’ defense that got lit up last week by Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

But the real story of the game may be injuries.  The Steelers will be missing James Harrison……again.  Troy Polamalu is also suffering from a calf injury and may not play.  Rashard Mendenhall is getting better, but he’s still not ready to play this week.  Isaac Redman still isn’t at 100% either.  And let’s not even talk about the offensive line.  It seems like they’re just one big injury report.

Of course the Jets have their own injuries to worry about.  Their star cornerback, Darrelle Revis, won’t be playing on Sunday due to a concussion.  The match-up of the Jets’ cornerbacks, Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, against the Steelers wide receiver tandem of Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown was shaping up as a classic match-up.  But without Revis, the Jets will have to call upon former 1st round pick Kyle Wilson.  He’s a decent player, but he’s no Darrelle Revis.

As much as I’d like to hype up this game, I’m finding it hard to do so.  I think that the Jets are going to be outclassed on both sides of the ball, regardless of the Steelers’ injuries.

I’m predicting that the Steelers will get their first win of the season and improve their record to 1-1.

More importantly, I predict that this is what the Jets players are going to look like at the end of the game.

Go Steelers!

The Pittsburgh Steelers open their 2012 season the same way their 2011 season ended; against the Denver Broncos.  However, the team names are almost the only similarities between the two games.

The Broncos team that beat the Steelers in the playoffs last year were led by Tim Tebow.  But make no mistake, this Broncos team is without question Peyton Manning’s team.

Peyton Manning will make his regular season debut with the Broncos on national TV in a night game against the Steelers.

All eyes will be on Peyton, who will be playing in his first real game since January, 2011.  Since that time he’s received multiple neck surgeries, and fans are anxious to see whether he’s still the Peyton Manning that they remember.

Of course, the Steelers aren’t going to go easy on Manning, despite his injury problems.  In fact, I’d be willing to bet that the LaMarr Woodley and Chris Carter will go after Manning like sharks who smell blood in the water.  Any sign of weakness on Manning’s part will send them into a feeding frenzy.

The Steelers are going to have question marks of their own.

On offense, this will be the first regular season game for new offensive coordinator Todd Haley.  Steelers fans will finally get to see what happens when Haley’s offense is unleashed on a real starting NFL defense.

Haley also has to contend with a depleted running game.  Neither Rashard Mendenhall nor Isaac Redman are 100% healthy.  Mendenhall probably won’t play at all on Sunday.  And depending on how healthy Redman is, the Steelers may have to rely on Jonathan Dwyer to carry the majority of the rushing workload.  Dwyer was the Steelers’ leading rusher during the preseason, but he hasn’t proven himself during the regular season yet.

Steelers RB Jonathan Dwyer

Haley will also have to work with Mike Wallace in the starting lineup, despite missing the entire preseason due to a contract holdout.  Wallace says that he’s been studying Haley’s offense, but this is the first time that he’ll take any actual snaps in the new system.

The Steelers’ defense will also face challenges.  Star linebacker James Harrison is still recovering from a knee injury and won’t play on Sunday.  Safety Ryan Clark also won’t play due to his sickle cell disease.

Despite being shorthanded, the Steelers’ defensive unit is still one of the best in the NFL.  I think they’ll be more than capable of containing Manning.  But I don’t think the same about Denver’s defense.  The Steelers’ offense has too many weapons.  If the offensive line can hold up their end of the deal, I think the Steelers offense has the potential to cause nightmares for Denver’s defense.

Las Vegas says that Denver is the favorite in this game.  But I’m going to disagree with that assessment.  I’m going with the Steelers to win 27-17.  Go Steelers!

The Steelers begin their 2012 preseason on Thursday, when they face the Philadelphia Eagles.

We all know that the Steelers’ starters don’t typically take many snaps until the third preseason game.  That will likely be true this week as well.  But despite a lack of starters playing meaningful minutes, there will still be some interesting position battles to keep your eyes on.

Here are a few of the players/positions that I think Steelers fans should be paying close attention to on Thursday:

Cornerback

Some are already saying that Keenan Lewis is going to be the starter when the regular season begins, and that Cortez Allen will be the first player called upon in nickel situations.  But I don’t completely agree with that assessment.

Thus far I’ve seen a very tight battle at training camp.  Lewis, Allen, and Curtis Brown have all shown an ability to make plays.  Nobody has separated from the pack.  Because of this, many sports writers and bloggers are saying that Keenan Lewis has the advantage due to his longer tenure with the team.  Cortez Allen got more playing time at nickelback last year than Curtis Brown, so people assume that he will be next on the depth chart.  And finally, they assume that Brown will be third on the depth chart due to his lack of playing time at the cornerback position.

All of that may be true right now, but I’m hoping that one of the three players will separate himself on the field.  Tomorrow’s preseason game will be the first opportunity for one of them to do that.

Running back

Isaac Redman is thoroughly entrenched as the starting running back while Rashard Mendenhall is on the PUP list.  But after him, it’s anybody’s position to win.  Jonathan Dwyer, John Clay, Baron Batch, and Cris Rainey are all very different types of running backs.  They bring different things to the party.  It will be interesting to see which of them is capable of making the biggest impact in Todd Haley’s new offense.

Like so many other Steelers fans, I’m particularly excited to see what Chris Rainey can do under actual game conditions.

Chris Rainey

Wide receiver

Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Jericho Cotchery, and Mike Wallace (when he finally show up), are all entrenched at wide receiver.  Their places on the roster are assured.  But there are two other wide receiver slots on the roster that have yet to be claimed.

Toney Clemons is tall, and he has speed, but he really hasn’t done very much in training camp.  Frankly, he’s looked more like Limas Sweed than John Stallworth.

Frankly, it’s been Marquis Maze and Derrick Williams who have done the best job of holding onto the ball at practice.  But that’s very different from holding onto the ball while a cornerback is trying to take your head off.

Nose tackle

After the draft, everyone assumed that Alameda Ta’amu was the nose tackle of the future.  But from all indications in camp, the future is now, and his name is Steve McLendon.  McLendon is bigger, faster, and stronger than he was last year, and he has been thoroughly outplaying Ta’amu.  In fact, it hasn’t even been close.

Frankly, I’m not sure that Casey Hampton would be able to hold off McLendon from taking his position even if he were healthy (Hampton is currently on the PUP list).

Offensive line

Well, it’s not the entire offensive line that I’m anxious to see.  It’s just the two rookies; David DeCastro and Mike Adams.

Adams has looked good in training camp.  DeCastro…….Ummmm, not so much.  But both will have plenty of opportunities to show what they can do on Thursday.  Coach Mike Tomlin has announced that both rookies will be starting against the Eagles.

To paraphrase the Apollo 13 astronauts, “Pittsburgh, we have a problem”.

Our problems is 6’4″, weighs 225 lbs., and goes by the name “Brady”.

That’s right, I’m talking about Tom Brady.  You know him, don’t you?  He’s the pesky New England Patriots quarterback who has an annoying habit of beating the Steelers.

I once wrote an article called “I hate Bill Belichick“.  That article was the inspiration for this one.  You see, I do hate Tom Brady.  Hate, hate, hate!

I’ve never actually met Tom Brady.  He’s never caused me physical harm.  He’s never insulted my mother.  I’ve never heard him refer to anyone using a racial slur.  He doesn’t kill kittens or puppies.  As far as I know, he’s a decent guy.  But I still hate him.

The reason that I hate Tom Brady has nothing to do with anything that he’s done to me personally.  Rather, it’s based on what he does to my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers; he beats them.

Tom Brady is 6-1 against the Steelers.  That means he’s beaten them 86% of the time.  $#@&^%#!!!!!!!!

Brady has beaten the Steelers in New England.  And he’s beaten them in Pittsburgh.  He’s beaten them in the regular season.  And he’s beaten them in the playoffs.

The guy I hate.

Brady has thrown for over 2,000 yards against the Steelers.  He’s tossed 14 touchdown passes against them.  And while throwing all of those passes, he’s seldom been sacked or intercepted.  See why I hate him?

The last time the Steelers faced the Patriots, Brady threw for 350 yards.  He tossed 3 touchdown passes during that game, and he ran for a 4th TD.  Grrrrrrr!!!  I’m getting mad just thinking about it.

As much as it hurts to admit it, Tom Brady is one of the most cerebral quarterbacks in the NFL.  He dissects defenses the way high school biology students dissect frogs.

Under Brady’s leadership, the Patriots have scored 30 points or more in 13 of their last 14 games.  The Patriots are ranked 1st in the NFL in passing offense, averaging over 350 yards per game.  So I’m sure that it’s not just Steelers fans who hate Brady.

But it’s the Steelers who have to face Brady this weekend, so our hatred probably runs deepest right now.

I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I’ve come up with the only logical solution to the problem.  Tom Brady must die!

Now where did I put my friend Vito’s telephone number?  He’ll handle this problem quietly, and permanently.

Go Steelers!

This Sunday, the Steelers will begin the most difficult 2-game stretch of the 2011 season.  They face the New England Patriots this weekend, and then they’ll face the Baltimore Ravens the following week.  The Steelers will host both games at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

Both the Patriots (5-1) and the Ravens (4-2) are in the top 10 in most NFL power rankings.  The Steelers are also in the top 10 in those rankings.  In fact, these 3 teams are the top 3 teams in the AFC in most rankings.  So the next two games will say a lot about AFC supremacy.

The problems with facing the Patriots is that they always seem to have the Steelers’ number.  The Patriots have won 5 of their last 6 games in Pittsburgh (including 2 AFC Championship games).

Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady is 6-1 against the Steelers during his career, and he always poses a difficult challenge for the Steelers.

The problem with facing Brady is that he violates one of the Steelers’ defensive philosophies.  The Steelers believe in stopping the run to force their opponent to become one-dimensional. They believe that if they can force the opponent to pass the ball, they have a high probability of causing turnovers and winning the game.

However, Tom Brady and the Patriots seem to embrace that challenge.  They seldom run against the Steelers, and are content to throw on just about every play.  They use the short passing game in place of their running game, and challenge the Steelers to stop them.  And Brady almost never throws an interception.

The Patriots rank 1st in the NFL in overall and passing offense, with averages of 474.5 yards and 350.5, respectively.  Brady leads the AFC in passing, and wide receiver Wes Welker leads the NFL in receptions.

Welker is always challenging, but the bigger challenge for the Steelers will likely be Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski.  Gronkowski is ranked 23rd in the NFL in receiving yards, and he already has 5 touchdowns.  That’s more TD catches than Steve Smith, Larry Fitzgerald, DeSean Jackson, A.J. Green, Jason Whitten, Roddy White, Reggie Wayne, or Vincent Jackson.  Moreover, Gronkowski caught 3 TD passes the last time the Steelers faced the Patriots.

Fortunately for the Steelers, the Patriots defense is ranked 32nd in the NFL against the pass.  That’s dead last.  They’re allowing their opponents to pass for 322 yards per game.

If the Steelers are smart, they’ll take a page from the Patriots’ playbook, and challenge the Pats to stop their passing game.  Frankly, I don’t believe that the Patriots’ defensive backs have the speed to stay with Steelers’ receivers Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, and Emmanuel Sanders.

Steelers fans don’t usually expect to see the Steelers offense engage in high scoring shootouts.  But in this game, that may be exactly the formula that’s needed to win.  And frankly, I think it’s the type of game that offensive coordinator Bruce Arians dreams about.

Arians loves the passing game.  Loves, loves, loves!  In fact, if he could never call a running play, I think he’d do that.

If Arians is allowed to unleash his sprinters so Ben Roethlisberger can launch long bombs, Arians will likely die of happiness.  Moreover, the Steelers will likely win the game.